Railroad-rail.



PATENTED Nov. 6, 1906.

w'. GOLDIE. RAILROAD RAIL. ,APPLIOATION FILED AP-R.24. 1905.

V J L W/ fi m WM? W N\ w .7 k W m w. z w \b m mv'NT o L I Mmssssa- 4rLmm UNITED srAp is PATENT OFFICE.

RAILROAD-RAIL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 6, 1906.

Application filed Apri124,1905. Saria1No.257,137.

To' aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM GoLDrE, a resident of Wilkinsburg, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of'Penns lvania, have invented a new anduseful improvement in Railroad-Rails; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full,'clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to railroad-rails, its object being to provide arail of the highest racticable degree of stiffness to sustain the oadsto which the tracks are now subjected through the increased weight oflocomotives, cars and the loads carried therein, and the increased speedof trains.

The practically universal practice in the making of railroad-rails hasbeen to form the rail with a larger volume or bulk of metal in the headthan in the base, the idea being that the head wears under the trafficand that provision is made for such wear by increasing the bulk of metalin the head. The rail of the present invention embodies a radicallydifferent principle and one which is believed to greatly increase thestiffness and strength of the rail as well as its wearing qualities.

It consists, generally stated, in a railroadrail having a web portion, ahead, and a railbase, the rail-base containing a larger portion of metalthan the head and having thick vertical edge portions, such rail, thusproviding greater strength in the lower or tension member of the girderthan in the upper or compression member thereof, which is believed to bethe true principle of construction in carrying heavy loads and impartingstiffness to t e rail for-that purpose, while the larger bulk.

of metal in the rail-base will cool more slowly, and therefore anneal togreater extent, than the metal in the head, so that a harder steel maybe employed in the rail-body without fear of cracking in use, andtherefore a rail of greater wearing qualities be obtained.

It also consists in a rail having a head, web ortion, and base, the bodyof said base being ormed with practically rectangular thick edgeportions, and combining with the same a rail-su porting chair orbase-bar having a" practica ly rectangular seat corresponding in shapeto said rail-base and adapted to receive the same, so that when thesquare-based rail rests in the rectangular seat of the support it cannotbe forced from such seat by lateral pressure or strain, and the rail andsupport orm practically one combined rail, which, through the supportcan have a wide bearing upon the tie, and so distribute the loadthereon.

The accompanying drawing shows a vertical cross-section of a railembodying my invention. The rail shown in the said drawing has the webportion 2, the head portion 3, and the base portion 4. The head portion3 is illustrated in the figure as of the standard width, though reducedsomewhat in thickness to increase the rapidity of cooling the same afterrolling. It may be formed of any suitable section.

The rail-base 4 is made of any suitable section, the preferred sectionbeing illustrated, the rail-base having the flat lower face 5 and thevertical edge portions 6, forming a practically rectangular rail-base,as illustrated. The rail-base 4 contains a greater body'or bulk of metalthan the rail-head 3, the relative bulk of metal in the rail-base beingincreased according to the desired stiifness in the rail-body, the bulkof metal in the rail-base being at least ten per cent. more than thebulk of metal in the rail-head and such relative bulk being increased asfound desirable. For

this urpose and to properly distribute the metal in the rail withoutmaterially increasing its weight it will be seen that the railhead, asillustrated, is reduced somewhat in thickness, while the rail-baseitself is reduced considerably in width and the bulk of the metal thustaken from the rail-head and obtained by reduction in width of therail-base with suitable addition thereto is concentrated in the thicknarrow rail-base in such way as to provide a rectangular thick baseforming the lower chord or tension member of the girder, whichnecessarily carries the great body of the wei ht of the passing train.

. As illustrated in the drawing, showing the full-sized rail, therail-base is made about an inch thick in its edge portions and over aninch thick in the central portions thereof, while the body of therail-base is about three inches in width, such proportions beingconsidered about correct for a rail of aboutv eighty pounds to the yard.

The rail above described may be secured to the ties in any suitable way,and when so secured in place and properly supported it is evident thatthe track formed will have much greater stiffness than the rail ofstandard section, because of the relative increase in bulk of metal inthe lower or tension member of the girder to which the load carried onthe upper or compression member thereof is transmitted. Such stiffnessis increased as the relative amount of metal in the rail-base isincreased, if properly distributed. .A rail of the above constructioncan also be formed with greater wearing qualities than a rail ofstandard section in proportion to the percentage of carbon, manganese,or other hardening elements, and the proportion of such hardeningelements in the steel from which the rail is formed can be increased.This advantage is obtained from the fact that in the cooling of the railas rolled the head will cool more rapidly than the base, and the morerapid the cooling of the head the greater the hardness of the surfacemetal thereof, while as the base cools more slowly on account of thegreater body of metal therein and the distribution of the metal to givea narrow thick form of rail-base such rail-base will become annealed,and thereby increased in toughness and strength to with stand loads, andinstead of there being liability of the cracking of the edges of thebase under the shocks and blows of the passing train such annealedrail-base thus becomes an element of relatively greater strengththerein, making it possible to employ a steel of higher wearingqualities, and so obtain greater wearing qualities in the rail-head.

As above stated, I prefer to employ a railbase with thick vertical orpractically square edge portions. Such form of rail-base has specialadvantages when employed in connection with a suitable form ofrail-supportin chair or base-bar, which will envelop the rai base andsustain the same against lateral strain. In the accompanying drawing Ihave illustrated such a rail-support 7, which may either have the formof separate chairs to be secured to the ties or of a con tinuousunderrunning basebar, as described in an application of even dateherewith, Serial No. 257,138. It will be seen that this rail-support hasa seat corresponding in shape to the rail-base, having a flat base 8 andvertical side walls 9, into which the railb'ase fits. As the rectangularrail base is thus enveloped by the correspondinglyformed rail-supportand the support secured to the rail-tie 10, it is evident that becauseof the angular connection between rail and support it is impossible toturn the rail-base in the seat of the support, and hence no sidepressure upon the head of the rail can force the rail out of the seat inthe support, and the rail and support become in practical effect acombined rail. As the support can be made of any desired width, the loadupon the rail is thus distributed over a large surface upon the tie, andcutting or wear of the tie through lateral strains upon the rail is thuslargely overcome. For precautionary purposes the rail may be secured inthe support by means of suitable fastening devices, such as clips 11,held in place by suitable bolts 12 and nuts 13. When the improved railis employed with the underrunning base-bar having a seat enveloping thehead, as above described and as described in said application of evendate herewith, Serial N 0. 257,138, it is evident that the stillness ofthe track is still further increased through the body of the base-barand the vertical portions thereof, which form stiffening-ribs.

What I claim is 1. A railroad-rail having a web portion, a head, and abase, the rail-base containing a larger portion of metal than the headand having thick vertical edge portions.

2. A railroad-rail having a web portion, a head, and a base, therail-base being made narrow and thick and containing a larger portion ofmetal than the head.

3. A railroad-rail having a web portion, a head, and a base, therail-base being formed practically rectangular in cross-section andhaving a larger portion of metal than the head.

4. The combination of a railroad-rail having a web portion, a head and abase, the rail-base being formed with thick vertical edge portions, anda railsupport having an angular seat corresponding in shape to saidrail-base and adapted to receive and envelop the lower face and edgeportions of the same.

5. The combination of a railroad-rail having a web portion, a head and athick rectangular base, and a rail-support having a leotangular seatadapted to receive and envelop the lower face and edge portions of thesquare rail-base.

In testimony whereof I, the said WILLIAM GOLDIE, have hereunto set myhand.

WILLIAM comm.

Witnesses:

JAMES I. KAY, ROBERT C. TOTTEN.

